Fiers wins fifth with A's, beats Orioles 3-2

Matt Chapman, Khris Davis and Stephen Piscotty each drove in a run as the Oakland A’s defeated the host Baltimore Orioles 3-2 Tuesday night at Camden Yards in the opener of a three-game series.

The A’s, who have won five consecutive games, remain three games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West but comfortably in the second AL wild-card position.

Baltimore has dropped five games in a row.

The Orioles could not do much against Oakland starter Mike Fiers. He went six innings and allowed one run on four hits. Fiers also struck out seven with just one walk.

The right-hander improved to 5-0 in seven starts since the A’s acquired him in an August trade with the Detroit Tigers. Overall this season, Fiers is 12-6.

Jeurys Familia closed it in the ninth for his first save with Oakland and 18th this year. The other 17 came with the New York Mets.

Oakland took charge with a three-run third inning against Mike Wright (3-2). The big right-hander came in to replace Baltimore starter Alex Cobb, who left after two scoreless innings, apparently because of a recurring blister problem on one of his fingers.

In the third, Wright walked leadoff hitter Jonathan Lucroy, who scored one out later on a Chapman double.

Wright then walked Jed Lowrie before Davis (2-for-4) singled home Chapman for a 2-0 lead. Piscotty (3-for-4) later drove in Lowrie with a single that made it 3-0.

Wright settled down after that and threw two scoreless innings to keep the Orioles close.

Baltimore cut the deficit to 3-1 in the sixth when Jonathan Villar homered off Fiers. Villar struck again in the eighth with an RBI single that made it 3-2.

The Orioles had a chance to tie it in the eighth after Villar’s hit, but Oakland center fielder Ramon Laureano made a diving catch of a Trey Mancini line drive. That ended the inning, and Familia tossed a 1-2-3 ninth.